Gitmo = Geneva
Pentagon review concludes. Washington Post:
A Pentagon review of conditions in the Guantanamo Bay military prison has concluded that the treatment of detainees meets the requirements of the Geneva Conventions but that prisoners in the highest-security camps should be allowed more religious and social interaction, according to a government official who has read the 85-page document.
The report, which was ordered by President Obama, was prepared by Adm. Patrick M. Walsh, the vice chief of naval operations, and has been delivered to the White House. Obama requested the review as part of an executive order on the planned closure of the prison …
Defense lawyers for the detainees have complained bitterly about the isolation of some prisoners. They allege that over several years, it has led to mental problems for some detainees. The lawyers also have criticized the force-feeding of prisoners on hunger strike. There are about 40 prisoners on hunger strike, according to Pentagon officials.
Walsh concluded that force-feeding, which involves strapping prisoners to specialized chairs and forcing tubes down one nostril and into their stomachs, is in compliance with the Geneva Conventions’ mandate that the lives of prisoners be preserved, according to the government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the report publicly.
Walsh also found that prisoners should be allowed more communal recreation and prayer time. Prisoners in Camp 6 and the highly secret Camp 7 — which holds such high-value detainees as Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-proclaimed organizer of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks — can be held in windowless cells for up to 22 hours a day.
Only 22 hours? What kind of holiday camp are they running?
Walsh’s report was a broad endorsement of the Pentagon’s management of the prisoners at Guantanamo, and it urged prison authorities to continue efforts across the system to maximize the ability of the detainees to socialize and practice their religion, according to the government official.
Well, cynics might say, of course the Pentagon is going to endorse itself. The Pentagon is running the place. But cyncis may not get that the Pentagon is a big place, where the left hand advances its career off what the right hand is or isn’t doing. Anyway, what did anyone expect. A Serbian death camp? Al Qaeda torture cellar?
“Continue to avoid actions that are disrespectful to the detainees,” Walsh wrote.
Curious phrasing, “continue to avoid …. ” The good news is that this gives Obama another excuse not to close Guantanamo or do anything stupid like release them or spend a lot of money bringing them to the United States.
About the some squawking by lawyers over force-feeding of hunger strikers, which the Pentagon concludes meets the Geneva requirement of preserving life.
My own considered, principled position is, let ‘em starve. But I kind of like the Monty Python bit about lawyers claiming that keeping a hunger striker alive is torture. As for isolation, allegedly resulting in mental problems, well, maybe they should have thought of that before they became illegal enemy combatants.
Surber: Obama owes Bush an apology. I dunno. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Topics: Guantanamo
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:24 pm on Friday, February 20, 2009
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February 21st, 2009 at 12:45 pm
[...] ,Opinion Update: Ooops, Forgot these: QandO, Pirate’s Cove, Stop The ACLU, Power Line, Jules Crittenden, Don Surber , Outside The Beltway, [...]
February 21st, 2009 at 3:10 pm
But cynics may not get that the Pentagon is a big place, where the left hand advances its career off what the right hand is or isn’t doing.
As has happened repeatedly in the past. Where do they think those leaks come from? The Blue Bird Of Happiness?